Home Depot to close three call centers

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Home Depot will close call centers in Chicago, Dallas and Tampa, a move that will affect 950 employees, all of whom were notified of the closures on Monday.

According to Stephen Holmes, a spokesman for Home Depot, the cuts are to the retailer’s Home Services installation business, which deals with building and closing job quotes, specifically for flooring, millwork and decor.

“This change moves these responsibilities to approximately 550 stores,” he told HCN.

The call centers will close on Jan. 28. The move affects 750 employees in Tampa, 100 in Chicago and 100 in Dallas. The positions will be phased out.

“As the company continues improving the customer experience, we felt it was a priority to restore the customer-associate relationship in the store by giving customers a local point of contact for their installation purchases,” Holmes told HCN. “The way it has worked through the call centers (for the 550 stores) is that a customer would deal with a call center for the installation process for flooring, millwork and decor, meaning that the measures, quotes and other follow-up would be handled outside of the store by these call centers.”

The decision is consistent with the process Home Depot currently follows at most of its other U.S. stores, he said.